1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of the CD-ROM drive, and more particularly, relates to a control apparatus for driving different types of CD-ROMs in a CD-ROM drive for use in multimedia computer systems.
2. Related Art
In recent years personal computer systems have become more and more high-speed and powerful. Personal computer systems can process a variety of information data such as text, sounds, graphics, animation, movie, and so forth in a multimedia environment. All information data including text, sounds, graphics, animation, and movies are now available in a CD-ROM (which is a non-magnetic disk) which has a much larger storage capacity than other conventional magnetic recording media. Contemporary applications of CD-ROMs may be disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,249 for Optical Disc Reproducing Apparatus Having Displayed Mode Control Key Functions Which Are Controlled By Detection Of The Type Of Disc Being Reproduced issued to Ishii, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,700 for Method And System For Interfacing PC To CD-ROM Drives issued to Kim, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,777 for Interface Control System For A CD-ROM Driver By Memory Mapped I/O Method Having A Predetermined Base Address Using An ISA Bus Standard issued to Woo.
Conventional CD-ROMs for multimedia computer systems are presently classified in different types, such as an audio CD, a video CD, a photo CD, and CD plus. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,640 for Data Processing Apparatus Capable Of Reading Data From Different-Format CD-ROMs According To Different Processing Methods Of The Data, Minoura et al., disclose a CD-ROM drive for driving both normal audio CD-ROM format and CD-ROM extended architecture format disks. A CD-ROM drive which is necessary for operation of CD-ROMs, must be configured to read all types of CD-ROMs. However, in order to play each type of CD-ROM except the audio CD, the computer systems must require adaptable specific software drivers.
Generally, when driving a CD-ROM title, for example, a video CD in the computer system, a corresponding software driver must be executed after an operating system is executed. Then other operations such as selecting an icon provided within the software by a mouse or a command through a keyboard is required to perform a desired function. Such operations can be performed by pressing function keys of a remote controller, if available. While software driver can be constructed to accommodate different types of CD-ROM drives, access to the program and execution thereof must be carried out by using a mouse or keyboard. Thus, selecting a specific software driver for driving a CD-ROM title can be tricky and troublesome, and operation of each software driver is difficult for beginners or many novice users of multimedia computer systems since the function keys used in the drivers are different from each other.